 |
"The essential guide
to employment"
Other Publications
(click the image to find out more) |
|
|
|
Paid Subscribers Login
New Zealand Journal
of Employment Relations
Volume 33 Number 1
In the latest New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations the
following topics are covered. If you wish to read the entire articles
please find out more about subscribing to the NZJER by clicking
here.
To Download the latest NZJER issue in PDF form please
subscribe to the NZJER by clicking here. If you have paid please log in here.
Employee experiences of high-performance work systems: An analysis of sectoral, occupational, organisational and employee variables
KEITH MACKY* AND PETER BOXALL
Abstract
An overall assessment of work quality in New Zealand has rarely been attempted. This paper
explores the extent to which a sample of 1004 New Zealand employees experience a range of organisational processes and managerial practices associated with ‘high performance work
systems’ (HPWSs). Particular attention is given to occupational and sectoral differences but the study also includes organisational and participant controls. The big picture is that NewZealand workers – across both sectors and occupations – perceive themselves as relatively empowered. On the other hand, there are some interesting differences in workplace
experiences. Private-sector workers perceive themselves as having better chances of internal
promotion than those in the public sector, and professionals, technicians, and associate professionals in the private sector feel much better informed than their public sector counterparts. Employees in larger firms see themselves as having a better internal labour market but they do not, in any other respect, see themselves as experiencing more HPWS processes than those in small firms. Older workers and those with longer tenure experience greater autonomy at work and the better paid feel both better informed and better rewarded.
Those in unionised firms perceive better opportunities for training and development but do not otherwise experience higher levels of the HPWS variables we measure. The key implication for the productivity debate is that while empowerment levels are healthy in New Zealand, organisational performance and employee commitment would likely be higher if the
links between empowerment, training, rewards and communications were stronger.
Ass Prof Keith Macky, Department of Management, AUT, keith.macky@aut.ac.nz
Prof Peter Boxall, Department of Management & International Business, University of Auckland
To Download the latest NZJER issue in PDF form please
subscribe to the NZJER by clicking here. If you have paid please log in here.
Partnerships in Development: developments in mental health service provision in New Zealand. A case study
JUDITH McMORLAND*, BRAM KUKLER**, LORNA MURRAY*** and
ROB WARRINER
Abstract
It is estimated that 46.6% of the population of New Zealand will experience some form of mental disease or disablement over their life time. (MOH, 2006 p.xix). Of these about 3% will have severe mental health conditions, and a further 5% will have moderate/severe needs. Services for those experiencing severe mental illness are delivered through varying patterns of partnership between District Health Boards (DHBs) (clinical care) and non-government organisations (NGOs) (community-based support services). The nature of these partnerships
has changed considerably over the past twenty-five years, as paradigms of mental health care
and provision, and conceptualisations of illness and recovery have also changed. Using our experience of one District Health Board (hereafter WDHB) as an illustrative case study, we trace key changes in partnership concepts from de-institutionalisation to the present day, and
explore the implications of such changes for partnership relationships. This paper will trace some of the key changes in mental health provision in the light of these contextual changes, and explore the human resource development implications of our analysis on the dynamic relations amongst clinical providers, NGOs and consumers.
The case study briefly highlights steps taken in the past eighteen months to build partnership between clinical and community services, to strengthen the capacity and capability of the NGO sector, in order to redress in small part the imbalance of power between the statutory (clinical) and community support services, in order to overcome the fragmentation on services and to achieve a more systemic approach service integration, and the development of consumer-directed pathways towards recovery.
* Judith McMorland is an Honorary Research Fellow in the University of Auckland
Business School,
** Bram Kukler is the Funder-Planner (Mental Health) for WDHB
*** Lorna Murray is CEO of AMHS
**** Rob Warriner CEO of Walsh Trust, two NGO mental health providers in WDHB.
To Download the latest NZJER issue in PDF form please
subscribe to the NZJER by clicking here. If you have paid please log in here.
Work-Family Conflict and Job Outcomes: The Moderating Effects of Flexitime Use in a New Zealand Organization
JARROD HAAR*
Abstract
The influence of work-family practices on the outcomes of work-family conflict has received
little attention in New Zealand. The present study of 100 New Zealand employees found workfamily conflict held a significant negative relationship with job satisfaction and organizational commitment, while the moderating effects of current and future use of flexitime were mixed. Current flexitime use moderated work-family conflict’s relationship with both job satisfaction and organizational commitment with the negative influence of work-family conflict on these outcomes increasing when conflict was high. However, future flexitime use held a significant buffering effect towards work-family conflict and job satisfaction, with respondents reporting future flexitime use reporting increased job satisfaction when work-family conflict was high. The implications for research are discussed.
*Dr Jarrod Haar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Strategy & Human Resource Management, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton.
Email: haar@waikato.ac.nz
To Download the latest NZJER issue in PDF form please
subscribe to the NZJER by clicking here. If you have paid please log in here.
Family models as a framework for employment relations in entrepreneurial family businesses
M.CLAIRE DALE*, DEB SHEPHERD** and CHRIS WOODS***
Abstract
Since the 1980s, family businesses have become a global phenomenon. Research in Europe
and the USA shows that most of the new jobs created in the last decade have originated from family firms and that there are links between family businesses and profitability, longevity, and entrepreneurship. Research has also shown that the overwhelming majority of family firms are small- and medium-sized enterprises, and it is part of the received wisdom that for any small business, employment relations is one of the most important functions. Despite its acknowledged importance, little research has focussed on employment relations in either ‘family’, or ‘entrepreneurial’ businesses. This paper provides an overview of the relevant research and offers a preliminary exploration of how the family models, defined in binary terms as patriarchal or parental, can impact on family and non-family employees in entrepreneurial, family businesses The family models are then combined with a learning model as a framework for understanding employment relations in such enterprises.
* M.Claire Dale, MA (Hons) BCom, is a PhD candidate in the Department of English, and tutor in the Business School at the University of Auckland.
** Deb Shepherd, PhD in Management, MA (Hons) in Psychology and Management, lectures in the Department of Management and Employment Relations in the Business School, University of Auckland.
*** Chris Woods, PhD in Economics, lectures in Entrepreneurship and Innovation the Department of Management and Employment Relations in the University of Auckland Business School.
The authors thank the University of Auckland Graduate School of Enterprise for their contribution to the funding of this research, and thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions
To Download the latest NZJER issue in PDF form please
subscribe to the NZJER by clicking here. If you have paid please log in here.
|
|
|
|
|
